Dr. J says 76ers should part ways with Bynum

The Philadelphia 76ers haven’t gotten anything close to what they hoped out of Andrew Bynum.

Hoopsvibe’s quick call: In fact, they haven’t gotten anything at all.

I will admit, I was wrong about Andrew Bynum. When Bynum was traded to Philadelphia, I thought he would eventually go down in history as one of the best 76ers of all time. I looked at Bynum as a tremendous talent who just wasn’t into Hollywood; but when removed from the microscope of Tinseltown, would grow as a man and player and be a dominant force in the NBA for Philadelphia, a city located less than an hour from his hometown in South Jersey.

Well we all know that hasn’t happened and the Bynum project has been nothing short of a nightmare for Philadelphia sports fans and the 76ers organization. Bynum will end this season in Philly as a free agent, $16.9 million richer, and not having played one single minute of any game in a sixers uniform.

His destroyed knees should have been fully functional by the All-Star break, but an off-the-court bowling injury Bynum suffered set him back, causing the 7-footer to sit out the entire season. On top of that, he supposedly got into a fight in a Philadelphia pool hall a few months back and just last week, was a complete no-show for the 76ers team picture.

Bynum’s year in Philly has truly epitomized that saying “adding insult to injury.” No player has seemed like a worse teammate or contributor than Andrew Bynum.

And now, even the great Dr. J himself is voicing publicly that it’s time to move on.

Julius Erving, Dr. J, was a longtime player for the 76ers and now serves as a “strategic advisor” to the organization.

Erving had this to say about parting ways with Bynum:

“It’s going to be costly if the Bynum situation is one of total uncertainty for another year. I don’t think the organization should stand for that and I don’t think the fans are going to stand for it. I know what the net result is and the net result is Robert Parish’s old number – 00 – so we have not benefitted one degree and I guess he has. But I think if he’s not here you are going to free up a lot of money and money talks in the NBA.”

Erving couldn’t have spelled it out any clearer than that. The bottom line is Bynum has gotten way more out of the 76ers than they have gotten from him and now it’s time that the organization benefits. The reality is the only way they do that is by taking the money they’re paying Bynum to pay other more promising prospects.

Sixers head coach Doug Collins has already announced his early resignation at the end of this season. Bynum’s status, however, is still up in the air. He’s a free agent at year’s end and could stay in Philadelphia, but it sounds like Dr. J and the rest of the organization want to head in a different direction.